Sally's Scribbles

I have decided to take up the gauntlet that Al has thrown down and write our latest blog entry, as apparently most of the news is mine!

It feels like we are entering a new season, as a family and as a church plant… a fruitful season in which we’re feeling expectant and excited at what is ahead.

Talking of expectant… I’m very happy to announce that I am expecting baby number 3! I’m 19 weeks and due towards the end of October. I’m very well and enjoying having an ever-expanding waistline (which I may not enjoy so much in the heat of August in Madrid!). We are obviously thrilled and very grateful to God and trusting him with all that is ahead.

Since starting to meet as a church plant in our new central venue (which is going really well) we have begun different interest groups that aim to love and serve the communities we live in. In our area we saw there was a strong desire among some of the mums at the school gate to practice their English in a relaxed and fun way. As a result, with 2 other members of our team (Geofree and Caroline), we have started to meet every couple of weeks in our flat to drink tea, bake cakes and chat in English with our Spanish friends, all things that come quite naturally to me! So far they are really enthusiastic about it. We hope it will be another way to build really good relationships, meet a need and form links between us as a team and the community. Currently there are also 2 other groups - Al is part of a language exchange evening that takes place in a bar, with a very similar aim. We are really enjoying this emphasis on serving the community in any small way we can, working as a team and making new friends.

Earlier this month I had the wonderful opportunity to have 4 days at our Iberian Peninsula conference in Portugal, while Alastair stayed in Madrid with the kids. What a heroe! I particularly enjoyed singing with the band from the Portuguese church, leading some of the Spanish songs in our trilingual worship sessions, something I never dreamed would ever be possible for me! I sensed and appreciated the growing closeness we have with other churches across the peninsula as well as the amazing love and support we get from UK churches. (Here is a link to Guy Miller's blog that gives a further taste of all this: http://guymillernews.blogspot.com.es/) We feel genuinely privileged to be part of all that God's doing here.

 

As a family we are feeling more and more part of the local community, despite still sticking out like absolute foreigners (blonde hair, pale skin, etc!) - some things we just can't change :-)  We're proud of our little girl who is about to finish her 3 years of infant school and is due to 'graduate' next month. (Can't believe it's been 3 years!)   Joe is due to go into his final year of infants in September. He is still a bundle of fun and our key to endearing people to us!  They are both very excited about number 3, and to them October seems a long way off...

 

In other news:
- We had our first experience of Easter in Madrid this year and saw firsthand the processions, virgins and drums.
- We have been swept up in football fever and enjoyed the celebrations of Real Madrid's 10th European Championship! '¡Hala Madrid!'
- We really enjoyed having my godmother Sally and her husband Roger to stay in March and to share a bit of our lives with them.
- We're looking forward to spending time in the UK in July and will hopefully catch up with many of you!

Main prayer point:

Some of you ask for specifics you can pray for. Apart from any of the above, our main desire is to see many Spanish-speakers and Madrileños amongst us as a community. We love the lovely ‘Santi’ who is now heart and soul with us, as well as some others who are looking in. Pray for them, for others and for us in this!

Hope my scribbles have been painless! We send lots of love and hope you're doing well and pressing on with your adventures. God bless and until next blog,

Sally, Al (editor-in-chief) and the scrummies xxx